Beatles to Celebrate Sgt. Peppers Anniversary

http://www.albumvote.co.uk/news/article/1989.htm


Beatles to Celebrate Sgt. Peppers Anniversary


June 1 2007 will mark the 40th anniversary of the Beatles’ groundbreaking Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band album, and to celebrate it’s birthday - all 11 of the fab four’s UK albums will be re-released.

The albums were originally released on CD in the late 80’s and the new versions are expected to feature each track re-mastered in a state-of-the art 24-bit sound as well as it’s original mono recording.

Exact details are to be confirmed but Rock Radio reports that the discs could be available as early as March and that iTunes, who are negotiating the digital rights, are to make a special announcement during the Super Bowl on February 4th.

Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band is the UK’s biggest selling album of all time; it has shifted nearly 5 million copies and spent a staggering 23 weeks at number one.

great news!!

if.its.true....

Well, it's great if they make both stereo and mono versions. Just about time, I think.

That sounds a lot more like a press release than a rumor.

Tony

11 UK albums?
Which ones are being dropped?

11 Original studio albums is right isnt it? It so long since I had them out I cant remember.

There are 12 original uk albums and that's not counting Magical Mystery Tour which has now been integrated into the CD collection.

Thats some good news.

I'd like to hear the mono recordings myself.

i wonder if they could be excluding yellow submarine since it's hardly original. but it did soundlike they were trying to include all of the albums so it's probably a screw up. i don't think i'll be buying the albums anyways even if they are released.

This is such great news! I will definitely be picking up every single one of those bad boys! And how wonderful it will be to have them in mono. I'm finally realizing that having them in mono will be amazing. I'm reading Geoff Emerick's book and he's stressing the importance to Beatles fans of having the mono versions as they were produced to sound this way, so the mono versions are the ones that have all of the hard work on them, and were the ones that got the Beatles' stamp of approval. Bring it on! I cannot wait.

1st June ..... Way thats my birthday !!!!
well if this is true i wonder what ill be getting for my b'day ^^
haha but yes great news

Mono recordings - can't wait! I think this will be a banner year - it was 40 years ago today, we put Sgt. Pepper on to play!

I'm excited about having all of the original releases in stereo AND mono - like the Capitol LP releases have been doing.

Since it appears doubtful that the U.S. Revolver will be in a Capitol Volume 3, I will gladly take the U.K. version!

Just wanted to throw this out there. I got my Rolling Stone on Monday and it was reporting basically the same thing, which makes me even more excited. The more sources that report this, the better! RS said that the albums would be available on iTunes for a couple of months and that then after that the albums would be released. I am just thrilled to bits about mono versions!!!

Dangit.... I just bought most of the albums a couple years ago when I became a really big fan...

Well I'll probably buy my favourite ones. But other than that...

So I have to buy all the albums... AGAIN? It's an endless cycle.

Originally Posted by .Psychedelic.Stars.

So I have to buy all the albums... AGAIN? It's an endless cycle.

Look at it this way...

1) It has been twenty years since the original CD releases. This isn't exactly like certain films, where you get four different "special edition" DVD releases over three years, each one supposedly much better than the last one for which you just shelled out your hard-earned cash.

2) The original releases were recognized as being not too wonderful in terms of sonic quality or packaging when they came out. (If you look at current CDs, you'll find that most classic albums released in the early years of CD have since been re-released with improved sonic quality -- in fact, there are even a lot of legendary classical recordings such as symphonies and operas that have been re-mastered and given a second CD release during that time.) I would argue that these releases are long overdue.

What I'm curious about is how they're handling the mono/stereo mix choices. Of course, the original CD were mono-only for the first four albums, then stereo-only for the remainder of the set. Does this mean that all of the albums, including the later ones, will be in mono as well? Furthermore, they speak of the stereo as being "re-mastered." Does that mean that the original stereo mixes for the later albums, the ones we're all used to from the LPs, will be jettisoned forever?

Ideally, I could imagine a situation where each CD contains the new re-mastered version, plus either the original mono or stereo, depending on which was thought of as the definitive mix at the time. I mean, I would want With The Beatles to be available in mono, but the White Album...?

Well, one would think that the albums would be released with the first run through of each track in mono and then repeat itself on the same disc in stereo just like the Capitol albums. This presents two problems:

1. Doing this method disturbs the natural flow of the original album. After the nonsense talking at the end of "A Day in the Life" it disturbs the albums concept to repeat back to "Sgt. Pepper" and his band warming up again in a different mix.

2. This won't work when they get to "The White Album". There's too much material on each disc to fit mono and stereo versions on the same disc.

Personally I think the album's mixes as they stand right now (first 4 in mono and the others in stereo) is just fine. They could remaster them just like that. But if they must throw in both mixes, the sensible thing to do would be to have each album released as a 2-disc set, with the first disc being in mono and the second disc in stereo (or vice-versa). This would be okay with me and the other people who appreciate the album as its own entity and not to be tampered with. And it will also make the audio collectors happy.